


Search and Recovery

by eerian_sadow



Series: Avalon [22]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: tf_speedwriting, Gen, Offscreen character death, Search and Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-30
Updated: 2010-06-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>please remember that in the Avalon AU, Bluestreak was not found in Praxus.  He and his creator were living in Iacon when their sector was attacked and he was orphaned.</p><p>Written for Wed. June 30, 2010 at <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-C"></span><a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://tf-speedwriting.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://tf-speedwriting.livejournal.com/"><b>tf_speedwriting</b></a></p><p>Prompt:  Scenario - Finding something good where it was least expected</p>
    </blockquote>





	Search and Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> please remember that in the Avalon AU, Bluestreak was not found in Praxus. He and his creator were living in Iacon when their sector was attacked and he was orphaned.
> 
> Written for Wed. June 30, 2010 at [](http://tf-speedwriting.livejournal.com/profile)[**tf_speedwriting**](http://tf-speedwriting.livejournal.com/)
> 
> Prompt: Scenario - Finding something good where it was least expected

Trailbreaker trudged through the remains of Iacon, dispirited and exhausted. The Decepticons had hit them hard, and it had been all the tactics team could do to keep the assault contained to only half the city. That half the city was gone now, razed to the ground, and after five cycles of searching, there had been few survivors.

At four cycles, the command staff had stopped calling their current objective “search and rescue” and had switched to “recovery”. The black mech knew it was code for “we’ve given up”, though Trailbreaker wasn’t ready to give in just yet.

If there was a chance that a single life still lay in the ruins of Iacon, he would search for that life.

He felt fortunate to be partnered with Inferno as they walked through the ruins. The other mech was the most experienced of all the Autobots on the search and rescue teams, having done the job before the war, and he shared Trailbreaker’s convictions that they had to search until the last body was found—living or deactivated. Inferno was dedicated, and the defensive strategist felt certain that he was a large part of the reason any of them could keep going.

Inferno’s hope and determination fueled the rest of them.

 _“I’ve got nothin’ over here,”_ Inferno’s voice crackled over Trailbreaker’s comm. _“There’s a lot of debris, but my scanners say none of it’s the right composition for a mech._

The black mech looked across the ruined building toward his partner and gave him an acknowledging wave. _“I have readings here that are right for a mech, but no energy readings or spark signatures. If you want to head back this way, we can at least give someone some closure.”_

 _“Affirmative.”_ Inferno immediately began picking his way across the rubble.

As he waited, Trailbreaker turned his sensors back toward the rubble, hoping to narrow down the location of the body. It wasn’t what he had hoped to find today, but closure for some mech was better than nothing.

“Here,” he pointed toward an precariously leaning bit of wall when Inferno joined him. It was braced against several support beams and holding up several tons of shattered building.

The red mech made a displeased sound. “That ain’t going to be easy to get into safely.”

Trailbreaker nodded. It wouldn’t be easy, but Inferno had taught them that a lot of things were possible under the right circumstances. The problem was the risk factor. “Do you think it’s worth it? There’s not enough there to be more than one person.”

“I always think it’s worth it,” Inferno replied. “Real question is if we have enough time and resources.”

The black mech nodded. There was that to consider as well. “they will be calling us back soon. Command can’t afford more than another cycle or so with all of us out here.”

“I know.” The search and rescue operative gave the wall a long, calculating look. As he considered the situation, a soft cry made it’s way out of the rubble. “Breaker, did you hear something?”

Trailbreaker nodded. “It sounded like a …well I want to say a sparkling, but I can’t hear well enough to say.”

Immediately, Inferno was a flurry of action. He rushed forward toward the debris and started shouting orders to Trailbreaker. “Get on the comm with command. Have ‘em send Red, Hoist and whoever they can to move debris. Then I want you in here ready to hold things up with those force fields of yours.”

“On it.” Quickly, he relayed the other mech’s instructions to the command staff. Then he moved carefully into the debris next to Inferno.

“We gotta wait for the others,” Inferno said. “But once they get here, you’re going to need to brace a lot of this up while Hoist and I move it out. My sensors are saying there’s a pocket in there, so once we’ve moved enough debris, we’ll send Red in to see what’s what.”

The pitiful, obviously frightened cry sounded again as Trailbreaker nodded. He was ready to do whatever it took to save the owner of that voice.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I can almost see… Inferno could you move the light to you left and a bit above my head?” Trailbreaker tensed a bit as Red Alert crawled all the way into the pocket in the debris. He had things braced as well as possible, but if anything went wrong, the security chief was going to be crushed before he could do anything about it. “Thank you. I see… well, I see a corpse. I’m going to pass her out to you.”

Inferno took the femme with almost reverent hands when Red Alert passed her out. Hoist took her without being prompted and laid her out on the ground to perform a quick field diagnosis of her cause of death. Trailbreaker looked at her in horror.

He knew this femme.

Not personally; the only femme he’d known until joining the army had been his progenitor. But he knew her by reputation. Prowl, on the few occasions he discussed his family, had spoken very highly of her.

“Crossfire,” he said softly.

“Do you know her?” Hoist asked gently.

“I know of her,” the black mech replied. “I’ll handle notifying next of kin.”

“Thank you.” Hoist’s gratitude was sincere, but his expression was sympathetic. No one wanted to be the mech who had to notify next of kin, no matter how well you might know them.

“I’ve found something!” Red Alert called from the pocket, interrupting any further discussion. “There’s some kind of storage container in here and the sounds are coming from there. Someone pass me a torch.”

One of their assistants, a recruit who’s name Trailbreaker didn’t know, passed Inferno something that looked like an industrial-grade construction welder and Inferno maneuvered it into the passageway leading to the pocket. Trailbreaker’s tension increased, waiting for any kind of results.

Within moments, the weak cries they had heard initially grew into panicked screams. Trailbreaker could hear Red Alert’s shout’s over the top of the sparkling’s, though he couldn’t make anything out. Then everything went silent.

“I had to sedate him,” Red called out finally. “And I will require a medic. I had forgotten how strong a panicked sparkling could be.”

“Anything serious, Red?” Inferno asked.

“No. nothing that can’t wait until we’re back a base. I’m going to pass him out now. Be careful of his doorwings.”

The sparkling looked tiny when cradled in Inferno’s hands, but he seemed largely undamaged. Trailbreaker was immensely relieved.

“Good work mechs,” Inferno said as he turned away from the debris. “Good work.”  



End file.
